How to Look after a Grape Vine 
   
A rough guide for first time growers of grape vines in England.

Planting Your Grape Vine
The best time to plant your vine is either autumn or spring, although you can plant vines right through the summer months provided they are adequately watered. To plant, dig a hole large enough to contain the vine and its roots and about 2ft deep. Keep the topsoil and subsoil in separate piles, the topsoil will probably be darker in colour and richer looking. Cover the bottom of the hole with well rotted manure or compost. Bring  the level of the hole up to the depth of the pot, with compost mixed with the topsoil. Take the plant from the pot and if it is pot-bound gently loosen the roots. Plant into the hole using the remaining topsoil. Replace as much of the removed soil as possible and firm into the ground bringing the level of the soil up to the level of the surrounding ground. Finish the job with a layer of mulch.

Training Your Vine
There are many ways to train a vine. But all are started in the same way. The first three years are the most important as you are trying to establish a good trunk and root system. After three years you may alter the way you train your plant without doing any damage to the plant and therefore you may pick the best method for the site of your vine.

Year One
After planting the vine, place a strong support cane next to it, then as it grows select the best growing shoot and train it up its support cane. Carefully tie the shoot to the cane as it grows, being very careful not to tie to tightly as it will need room to expand later. Remove from this shoot all the flowers and side shoots, these grow from behind the bud between the stem and the leaf and can be easily removed by bending them away from the bud. In the winter the vine becomes dormant and the pruning can be done, by cutting the light brown wood down to form a lateral, between five and ten buds long, making sure that the wood you leave is a healthy green colour on the inside. Trim away any other growth coming from elsewhere on your vine. This may seem very harsh, especially if your vine has grown well but it is vital and will ensure good growth of your vine during the next twelve months. 

Year Two
In the summer you treat the vine exactly the same way as you did in year one. Then in the winter of year two you should prune the vine back to 10 - 15 buds still on one piece of wood pointing straight up Tie this to the cane at the very tip of the lateral. you may also put a tie lower down provided it allows room for the wood to expand. You should now have between 7 and 10 pieces of green growth from the single lateral that you left in the winter. At this stage it is important to be able to give the vine a sturdy support to grow up. If your vine is planted against a wall than a trellis can look good Although a simple network of wire is acceptable. The best way with wire is to run it horizontally along the wall and to tuck the new growth behind the first wire so the vine can start to climb up it. Try to spread out all the new growth as this will assist better air circulation and help to prevent any build up of fungal disease. 

Year Three
In the winter of the third year you may leave up to 30 buds per vine and you can now start to train your vines laterals along the wires. Firstly you must now decide which wood to leave and whether to leave one lateral with 30 buds or 2 lateral's with 15 buds on each. In April the sap rises and the laterals become supple and easy to tie down into the shape. 

Year Four
As your vine gets older it will develop a large root system which will be able to support a much larger crop of grapes. Which means you can leave an ever increasing number of buds during the winter pruning. This is worked out normally on a ratio of (5 years old = max 50 buds) (12 years old = max 120 buds) and so on.